instruction stringlengths 4 105 | output stringlengths 8 56.7k |
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How do you beat complacency? | sharpn: Run an internal competition (with a significant prize) to come up with a product that would outdo the existing product. Assuming the winning idea is good enough, that becomes the template for version 2.0 |
3 Ideas (with slides) for YC W10 - What do you think? | tezza: Hi. I'm formerly of both startups and Artwork Automation tech. Your idea sounds great & good luck with finding a co-founder.@YC W10 I have a few comments1. CutBots :: Installed base of cutting machinesCan you offer a service to post the results to your customers who don't have a cutter? Frequent or On Demand cus... |
What explains the ad hominem rampant in online discourse? | jacquesm: Anonymity.If you look at the people that go off on rants like that invariably they do not have a profile that allows you to identify them.As soon as people are out in the open with their name and/or other identifying information they usually are a lot less abrasive. |
What explains the ad hominem rampant in online discourse? | roundsquare: Lots of room for misinterpretation online. You type something and you think its clear, but the next person who reads it misinterprets. You don't get a chance to explain yourself before the person gets mad and replies with ad hominem.This is especially true when this happens on a subject someone is sensit... |
What explains the ad hominem rampant in online discourse? | peterhi: Although pg might not allow it (just quite how I do not know) if the level of abuse rises to a significant level for long enough people will leave. So for example a couple of trolls go on the rampage (and it doesn't require many people, just a few with far too much time on their hands) for a week you could los... |
What explains the ad hominem rampant in online discourse? | DanielStraight: http://xkcd.com/481/ |
Could a virtualized YC work? | brk: It might offer some benefit to a group in a remote location like North Dakota, I suppose. But it's hardly an ideal model or something that is likely to add tremendous value.Overall it does not sound very optimal to me, but I'd love to see you prove me wrong. |
Should history be stated objectively? | cpr: "You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free."There's no way to state history objectively, but we can try our best. There's no need to sugar-coat it. |
Could a virtualized YC work? | jacquesm: Why would people join something like that for 'access to resources' ?What do you mean by that ?What kind of peer pressure does YC apply to people to get stuff done ? Isn't the whole idea of a start-up to get people together that don't need that kind of pressure ? |
What explains the ad hominem rampant in online discourse? | anamax: Many people live in like-minded tribes. One of the tribal activities is slagging "the other". In fact, there's often a competition along those lines. However, since said other isn't present, they're really engaging a caricature that they invented. As a result, their arguments are weak.When they run into sai... |
Should history be stated objectively? | byoung2: If we tell them the truth the people who were oppressed in past might seek revenge now. That will create unrest.If you hide the truth, those same oppressed people will still seek revenge, perhaps even more fervently. |
Should history be stated objectively? | DanielStraight: You're asking two totally different questions here. History should be stated objectively when we know objectively (the U.S. declaration of independence was signed on July 4, 1776) and subjectively when we know subjectively (basically anything involving motivations for actions).Whether we should intentio... |
What explains the ad hominem rampant in online discourse? | pbhjpbhj: If someone resorts to an ad-hominem attack it seems that they don't have a logical comeback, or at least not one that can promote the verity of their argument over the others being proferred.Ad hominem attacks very rarely take the form of genuine criticism of the person or indeed a criticism of the characteri... |
Getting a survey of customer interest without giving too much away? | cperciva: When I was thinking of starting tarsnap, I just posted to my blog saying "here's what I think a backup service should look like; I can't see anything out there which looks like this; if I build this, will anyone pay to use it?"Now, tarsnap is a bit unusual in that the technical aspects create a significant ba... |
Getting a survey of customer interest without giving too much away? | sharpn: Ok, the chance your idea is stolen is not zero - but it's a lot lower than you think.
That said, there are a few things you can do without revealing your idea; use google trends to identify search volume for the problem you're solving, search forums for questions indicating frustration at the lack of your solut... |
Should history be stated objectively? | pbhjpbhj: Slavery happened for purely economic reasons didn't it? In one systtem the dominant African tribes and other groups rounded people up, they sold them to the (AFAIR) Europeans who were ship owners and traders who took the slaves off to be traded elsewhere, the slave-owners then traded on further or used the sl... |
Should history be stated objectively? | yannis: What would you tell your kids about Bush2, Bush1, Vietnam? Korea? Hitler? Stalin? Slavery? The Spaniard Conquest of the America? The Ancient Greeks? Can you hide the truth. Not really and the further you go back the easier it is for the current politicians, educators and parents to let kids see facts clearly ra... |
Getting a survey of customer interest without giving too much away? | byoung2: I have at least 10 good business ideas a month...I just don't have the time and energy to execute them, and I bet the would-be idea thieves don't either (I don't know if they're even worth pursuing). Edison's adage "Success is 10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration" is so true for startup ideas.He... |
where to share hacks? | diN0bot: right now i'm trying http://github.com as a source of finding new projects and interacting with the community. |
where to share hacks? | yannis: Get a blog? It would take some time to get an audience but if you persevere you will get lots of comments from likely minded individuals. |
Where do you get data? | antdaddy: This is a good place to start: http://theinfo.org/get/data |
Where do you get data? | byoung2: Usually the governing body that oversees that industry will have tons of data. In the US, there is a governing body for everything, either a gov't department, or a similar organization. I'm not sure what type of data you need, but here's where I have gotten data to work with:Population data - US Census (http... |
where to share hacks? | sophacles: Create a site called hackoverflow.com base it on stackoverflow.com. Im sure you don't need more prompting.It shouldn't take more than a long weekend... ducks :) |
Where do you get data? | jacquesm: I treat the www as one giant database...The nice thing about that is that it is all real world data, so quite messy. That gives you a good grip on what it takes to massage data before it becomes usable, and it also gives you some control over the level of abstraction. |
What open source project(s) should I work on? | cperciva: I recommend FreeBSD. :-)In all seriousness, every open source project can always benefit from more help... provided that it comes from someone who is interested in the project and is qualified to work on it. Moreover, people who come to a project saying "I want to get involved in open source, and I've picked... |
where to share hacks? | diN0bot: ps - i'm not sure why there are <p> in my post. i put two line breaks between paragraphs. |
Startup Idea - Dating with anonymous profiles | icey: This is just what my first impression of the idea is: A dating site where you hide the user's pictures sounds like a dating site for ugly people.I think people care about how someone looks, whether they want to admit it or not. I think you're going to have a tough road to user acquisition if people invest their t... |
Startup Idea - Dating with anonymous profiles | _pius: I believe that a lot of the sites that put a lot of emphasis on matching algorithms and compatibility (e.g. eHarmony, Chemistry) already de-emphasize the picture aspect quite a bit.I'll be honest, I have absolutely no interest in a site that eliminates physicality as an aspect I can use to determine the likeliho... |
Where do you get data? | Travis: Amazon offers public datasets at http://aws.amazon.com/publicdatasets/They include census data, as well as a dump of freebase's data (which mirrors things like wikipedia). They also have some genome data. |
Startup Idea - Dating with anonymous profiles | noodle: i'm just kind of throwing this out there, since its similar. feel free to take any ideas and use them (just give me a high five if you use them):i was mulling over the idea of a dating site that was more anonymous/private than the standard version. no searching allowed, no direct profile access allowed.you're... |
What open source project(s) should I work on? | messel: There's some interesting work happening in OpenFF, a open source social media effort. Also, might I suggest leveraging your talents on a project I have been working on for a couple of months but have had some technical difficulties with. The project concept can be found by doing a web search on Victus spiritus,... |
How do you organize your $HOME? | yan: my homedir is organized as follows: bin/ - binaries that aren't installed; appended to $PATH
docs/ - docs for what i'm working on is here
src/ - code
dl/ - that i downloaded
*/ - that i wrote
misc/ - self explanatory
notes/ - todos, notes i jotted down, urls
tmp/ - my sandbox usually filled wit... |
How do you organize your $HOME? | byrneseyeview: Pretty much at random. I use Emacs org-mode files and grep as a sort of alternative filesystem; it's a lot more flexible. |
Startup Idea - Dating with anonymous profiles | lhorie: This is not exactly the same, but I remember seeing a service in the news a few years ago where they would match scholars and geeks (e.g. you could look specifically for ornithologists, if you're a bird geek). It's not exactly anonymous, but the main focus was on areas of (very specific) interest, rather than p... |
Possible/Pursue Grad School Researching on a Personal Idea? | dhimes: Based on my experience, this is long shot. But be SURE you have an agreement with a professor before getting into the program. The programs, from what I know, are about the professor's interests and ambitions.That said, if your idea is particularly exciting, you may be able to induce a professor to get behind... |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | yan: I do low-level things mostly, so I start with: "The computer can only do extremely basic things that are pretty much limited to math operations, moving small amounts of data within itself and sending simple signals to devices, all really fast. It took a nation of smart people working hard for many decades to take ... |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | DanielStraight: Programming is pretty interesting, but I think it's somewhat delusional to think "normal" people care. ;) |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | icey: I prefer to make analogies that don't use computers at all.The basic one I like to use when describing programming in general is that programs are kind of like player pianos.Someone comes to the programmer and says "Hey, I want a piano that plays a song that sounds like this" and the programmer goes and gets the ... |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | mononcqc: "Well I sit in front of a computer all day, getting mad at random text on a screen. Sometimes I add my own text that will madden a different guy in a few months/years."People seem to like that description. |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | c00p3r: Writing an essay on non-familiar subject in non-native language.1. Plan. 2. Learn subject (find an expert). 3. write a draft (documentation). 4 evolve (goto 2). 5 Update draft. 6. Make it fatless. 7. Rewrite in foreign language (code). 8. Check spelling (test). 9. Rewrite some parts from scratch. 10. go to 4. |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | edw519: How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies?I don't. I gave up trying years ago.I prefer to let "complete non-techies" continue to think it's magic. |
Startup Idea - Dating with anonymous profiles | byoung2: I think the bigger question with dating sites is the chicken/egg question, as mentioned in the yc ideas post. How are you going to get people to that site in the first place.I have a lot of ideas for innovative takes on dating sites, but I can't think of a good way to get people there besides making it a Face... |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | wglb: It is reasonably difficult. The problem with analogies is that all analogies are false, and they are really a diversion to the core of the discussion. This is the good approach to saying what you need to say just to get out of the room.One tutorial example is referring to water flow in pipes to explain how elec... |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | TomOfTTB: Programming is essentially writing down instructions for a person who is extremely literal but very consciences. In the website's case the database is like a file room and the web page is like a piece of paper. You're telling the computer to get stuff out of the file room (database), giving it instructions ... |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | gte910h: I do this all day long at work. I'm a consultant who both teaches programming to people as well as develops full products for them.There are three keys to remember: These people aren't stupid because they are uninformed about the thing you know alot about. You will lose them very quickly if you go into jargon.... |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | Tichy: Two examples come to mind:1) cooking - following a recipe is like a CPU executing program instructions2) Giving directions (follow the street north, turn left at the second crossing, ...)Both even come with loops: "follow the street until you see the red building", "stir until it boils"Therefore I claim that alm... |
How do you organize your $HOME? | mooism2: In addition to whatever Ubuntu/Debian/OSX puts there, I have bin/ --- for scripts I wrote myself
notes/ --- for notes from talks I've attended, or researched online
posts/ --- for things I will post to my blog
stories/ --- I used to fancy myself as a writer
tmp/ --- anything that doesn't nee... |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | grosales: I'd try to use similar analogies to the examples that _why used at the Art && Code Symposium (the examples would be those used in Hackety Hack). http://www.vimeo.com/5047563 |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | anigbrowl: Show them the inside of a mechanical alarm clock. |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | lucifer: Try this: Imagine you have a machine to create fabrics that has a set of spools of various colored threads. Now this loom also has the feature of being able to read a sheet of paper punched with holes that automatically selects different colored threads whenever it reads a line, so that by changing the patte... |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | herval: "it's like writing a screenplay to be acted by tiny little electronic things, also known as computers.". |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | fsniper: I start with telling, "computers are idiots, they have no sense and no thinking ability. But they are really fast and do not get tired of repeating. They pretend to be clever by repeating written orders perfectly and fast. So someone has to write down the orders that an idiot can understand and repeat quickly.... |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | frossie: I think the challenge is not so much to explain how programming works (I think most have some vague idea that it involves making the computer do "stuff") but to explain why it matters to do it well and why you get wound up about seemingly incomprehensible stuff.I use the furniture making analogy; if you need a... |
How do you organize your $HOME? | humbledrone: I've got:bin/
build/
downloads/
src/sandbox/
src/git/
src/svn/
src/cvs/The 'downloads' directory is actually my junk drawer, and should probably be called something like 'misc', but my brain is hardwired to type ~/d<tab>.I'll admit that it's pretty silly that I keep my source code organized by version-cont... |
Where do you get data? | kellyjoseph: Try http://infochimps.org/ |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | bkovitz: A long time ago, I was at a client's site, and had to write code at a dumb terminal in the middle of the sales floor (I said this was a long time ago). One of the salesmen walked by and saw me typing up a storm. Impressed, he said, "Is there, like, a big chart that you have memorized?"I said, "No, I just mak... |
Could a virtualized YC work? | slay2k: I don't think this would work, for the following reasons:1. Money. While 14-20k isn't that much, it does provide enough money not to have to think about bills for months. Perhaps even more importantly, taking someone else's money (esp. when that someone else is PG) is a pretty strong incentive to actually produ... |
Why not Flex? | eldenbishop: The "cross-browser" compatibility is greatly exaggerated by adobe and "widget" programmers who don't have to do heavy application programming. I have been working with a large team for two years on a website with heavy flex integration and we have had far more browser incompatibility problems with the Flex... |
Review my site (http://www.udoa.com) | DTrejo: http://www.udoa.com |
Why not Flex? | eldenbishop: The number one request in our user feedback forums is to get rid of Flex/Flash. |
Review my site (http://www.udoa.com) | rwolf: Some functions of your site appear to be explicitly manual ("bubbling" polls into more general categories, linking congressional bills to news stories), but I was unable to find a clear breakdown of what is automatic and what require human intervention. That information is probably not important to end users, bu... |
Review my site (http://www.udoa.com) | tdoggette: I don't particularly like the design: The text is small, and it's not very distinctive. It could also do with a line of "UDOA is a blah blah blah where you blah" copy. |
Review my site (http://www.udoa.com) | MicahWedemeyer: Random thoughts:- Make the legislative aspect more prominent. It's not clear that congressional bills are intended to be a big part (right?). It looks like a standard news aggregator, but I do believe that you're on the right track with the legislative component.- As much as I hate Facebook Connect, y... |
when you're hiring, how important is a MS/Ph.D? | timwiseman: First, it clearly depends on the position and organization. Some (especially when dealing with the government or large organization) will require it.With that said, for the mid-level developpers I have personally been involved in interviewing, I find it to be a positive mark but hardly decisive. I have pe... |
when you're hiring, how important is a MS/Ph.D? | icey: I personally look at any degree information last. Sometimes it figures more prominently; like if someone had a grad degree from MIT for example. Otherwise, I'd much rather have someone that I think can write software well over someone that can write papers well. |
Review my site (http://www.udoa.com) | marcusestes: Put a single "Recent Challenge" above the fold, along with a 1 sentence explanation of why the user should participate. And test the hell out of user response to optimize the ones most inviting of action.Upon first arrival it's much too difficult to understand what the site does.I'm not crazy about the nam... |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | paul9290: For web design (my current expertise) I would give student a folder with index.html , img folder, js folder, css folder and explain the html file/code makes calls to the contents within those folders to explain structure(show them where in html that happens). Then i'd tell them to go play with the css and se... |
How do you organize your $HOME? | elmindreda: The bits relevant to the topic at hand: archive/
people/*/ - misc files from people I know
projects/*/ - dead source trees of mine
downloads/ - stuff from the interwebs
playground/ - simple throw-away code
projects/
pool/ - design sketches and failed experiments
prototypes/ - succes... |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | drhodes: Programming is like building an invisible engine from invisible parts with invisible hands. |
Review my site (http://www.udoa.com) | jack7890: Great domain name. You been hanging on to that one for a while? |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | bravura: The real question is: What problem are you trying to solve? i.e. what do you hope to achieve by explaining programming to non-programmers?When people ask me about my scientific work, or my thesis, my goal is typically to make them feel validated and my work seem interesting, rather than going into excruciating... |
when you're hiring, how important is a MS/Ph.D? | Tangurena: At our tiny branch of a division of a subsidiary of a large fortune 500 corp, a degree is neither a hinderance nor a help for technical staff. At higher levels, management staff can't get promoted without a masters degree in a business field (usually an MBA, but I'm working on a masters in accounting as an ... |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | zupatol: Sometimes people ask me why programming is fun. I tell them programming is like building a sandcastle or writing a story, with the added pleasure that what you build reacts to your inputs. In fact some of the pleasure of writing in a natural language comes from striving for clarity and succintness, just as whe... |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | johngalt: Have them pickup a pencil and stand up on it's eraser. Then ask them to describe what they did. "I took the pencil and I balanced it on the eraser" is usually as deep as they go.Then describe what they did as a programmer would.1. You extended your arm
2. Began closing your thumb and finger until they hit pen... |
Review my site (http://www.udoa.com) | jacktasia: I found a rather giant security issue...that if a mean person found you would lose all of your data. I can't find a way to contact you through the site though. |
How do you explain how programming works to complete non-techies? | sdh: use the peanut butter and jelly sandwich exercise.ask them as a group to give instructions one by one for building a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. you perform each instruction precisely as given.them: "put peanut butter on the bread"
you: put the jar of peanut butter onto the loaf of bread. ask for the next ... |
when you're hiring, how important is a MS/Ph.D? | newsdog: I think getting a masters really separates the wheat from the chaff, education wise.It's part of an elite. |
Possible/Pursue Grad School Researching on a Personal Idea? | baran: I have had an interesting experience in regard to this. My graduate program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has actually been incredibly flexible with the areas of research that I want to pursue. The program generally consists of just coursework, however I have been able to do pretty much whatever I wan... |
How do I explain copyright to 11-year olds? | byoung2: Put it in terms they understand, like this:Copyright is kinda like, the "right to copy" something. When you type a book report for school, you can print as many copies as you want, because it's yours. Maybe you want to print extra just in case you lose one before you hand it in. Maybe you want to print a co... |
How do I explain copyright to 11-year olds? | blogimus: Well, http://www.copyrightkids.org might be a starting point. It seems a bit hokey, but might give you some ideas.It's put together by the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. I really don't know anything about the organization. |
How do I explain copyright to 11-year olds? | vonsydov: Or maybe...copyright is a way to make sure that the guys who created the product get as much money for it as possible. Why make it a moral issue when its more like a cultural issue in the way humans have implemented resource sharing and creative compensation. |
Should you release many products to see what takes off? | baran: Customer development - find out what someone is willing to pay for. |
Should you release many products to see what takes off? | thesecret: I think releasing several products might not be that great of an idea because a large part of a successful startup is your ability to market and attract users.Setting up the startup/product is easy...it's getting people to use it and retaining them which is hard |
Is Anything Missing from This Picture? | dzlobin: Do I really have to say it? |
Should you release many products to see what takes off? | dryicerx: I think it really depends on the products...If you are talking about simple web apps with quick development times and maintenance, I see no problem attacking with multiple products simultaneously. But the down side is, most quickly developed apps require a critical mass quickly (and to get there quickly you n... |
Is Anything Missing from This Picture? | mullr: He should be spreading his arms out a bit more. Other than that, it's pretty good. |
Is Anything Missing from This Picture? | 10ren: To paraphrase Lennon: "More disciples than Jesus" |
Is Anything Missing from This Picture? | zck: Is it me?Either that or a sense of balance -- pg should be in the center, since it's a homage to Leonardo's The Last Supper: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Leonardo_da_Vinci_%281452-... |
How do I explain copyright to 11-year olds? | mbrubeck: I like the snow shovel analogy, since it's easy to understand but allows for discussion of many of the nuances and tradeoffs:http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/Mcchesneysnow.htmlWhen it snows hard in Chicago, people have to shovel out parking spaces for their cars. But no one will want to do this if some... |
Suggestions for cutting down new account spam | mbrubeck: Posts are auto-killed after a sufficient number of flags by users. (I think the default threshold in news.arc is 7 flags or so.) This spreads the work out among many readers, and seems quite effective.If you make participation a requirement for posting, you might just displace spam into comments... |
Where do you get data? | roundsquare: Wow... boatloads of data. Thanks all! |
Should you release many products to see what takes off? | jacquesm: I know several very successful companies that followed this route, but you have to be pretty ruthless at the moment you realize that one thing has significantly more momentum than the rest, and you have to have a nicely filled war chest to get started.Let's take one of them as an example. The company launched... |
The Importance of a co-founder | slay2k: Ehh, I know this thread's kind of dead but I just found it. I'm in LA, shoot me an email. |
Suggestions for cutting down new account spam | RiderOfGiraffes: A data point.I came to HN because I sent Paul Graham something that he thought was interesting, and he suggested I post it. If karma-less members weren't able to post, I probably wouldn't be here. That's just me, but I'm almost certainly not the only one.Getting the majority of the work done by the m... |
Review my site (http://www.udoa.com) | sigh400: It's pure white for me. I thought it was NoScript but it appears to not be? |
Should you release many products to see what takes off? | mahmud: If you can churn out products, you probably aren't doing much to create them to begin with: it takes a lot of effort to bring something worth buying to the market; if you must test the waters, spend more time on the research phase and implement something that's desperately needed, even if you develop it for one... |
Should you release many products to see what takes off? | 10ren: Sony and HP started out with many products.> Of the many projects they worked on, their very first financially successful product was a precision audio oscillator, the Model HP200A. (emphasis added) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hewlett-Packard#Founding
(Wikipedia doesn't mention it for Sony)Doesn't mean it's "be... |
What is Y Combinator's 'anti-portfolio' like | DanScorpio: DriverMax from http://www.drivermax.com is in the Compete top 100,000. We are not looking for VC investment. We are profitable. |
What is Y Combinator's 'anti-portfolio' like | rw: Google?YC is a drop in the bucket. It's a cool and potentially game-changing one, but a drop nonetheless.Edit: To be less snarky about it, this will probably interest you: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=550351 |
What is Y Combinator's 'anti-portfolio' like | pclark: apparently CouchDB, too. |
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